Tea with the Queen

We are forcing it to be spring around here.

Every year about this time I go "on strike," which means I start wearing my flip flops again in protest of winter and winter-y things in general.

This year, another side effect was an un-apologetically feminine, frilly and floral fat quarter set.

I am calling it "Tea with the Queen" and it will be up for giveaway on Soulemama this weekend.

You know what that means...
























Not to toot my own horn, but... I *love*... sigh.

These have already been selling like crazy at the shop and I plan to keep it that way.

If you would like to have Tea with the Queen, you can find what you are looking for right here.

See you all again soon!

XO,

Rhea

Craft Swap Recap

Oh, lordy, lordy!

This was one of the best Craft Swaps ever: the gifts were amazing and there was a lot of stealing (totally hedonistic, as my friend Melissa just said) and lots and lots of laughter.

Before the Craft Swap had even begun, I saw some amazing bags and garments coming through the door, so of course I grabbed my camera to take some photos...

There were no less than three Winslow Market Totes in attendance, but I only got pictures of two:
























The Winslow Market Tote on the right is my friend Julie's: her colors are red and turquoise and you may be able to pick out the quilt she made during the Mystery Quilt Weekend because the colors are exactly the same.

And pay close attention to the Winslow Market Tote on the left: that belongs to my friend Allison, who left the Craft Swap with my gift, which you will be seeing shortly!


And below is my friend Emily, whom I think is a total hot ticket: she was wearing her Lotus Tunic, made with batiks from the shop and paired with some cute jeans (be still my heart: you know how I love a good tunic or dress with jeans!). I sometimes never think of batiks when I am making garments for myself, but this tunic is so gorgeous I can't stand it! I'll have to remember them when I am making my next ensemble.


























Now that the pre-show has been sufficiently covered, onto the Craft Swap photos!




























































































































And I totally made out like the proverbial bandit: I got to take home both this gorgeous Marie Antoinette doll (I told you all I wanted one of these, remember? From the Wee Wonderfuls book!) and this Chicken Bumble (not from the Wee Wonderfuls book, but super-cute anyhow), both of which were hand-embroidered by my good friend Anne.

























Anne is on her way to a Caribbean cruise this morning: have a great time, Anne ! I love my goodies!
























And remember my friend Allison who came to the Craft Swap sporting her Winslow Market Tote? She left the Craft Swap with my gift, which was one of Amy Butler's Cosmo Bags from the cover of her new book Style Stitches.

Be on the lookout for my Cosmo Bag review blog post in the next few days.


There were a few "serendipitous" moments and "happy stories" from the Craft Swap last night:

The first "serendipitous moment" came about because of the horrible weather we had last Friday, which meant we had to reschedule the Craft Swap to take place last night, which meant that the Craft Swap took place on my good friend Nadine's birthday, which meant we had to get a cake... which didn't last long.





















And "serendipitous moment" number 2 came about before the Craft Swap, when Dawn's son Gavin gave her his "lucky die" because "It works, Mom." Well, it really did work because Dawn picked the best number, number 1, and at the end of the Craft Swap she got to choose whatever she wanted.

Here she is with her lucky die and with the quilt she chose.
























Doesn't Dawn look like she just got away with something? And isn't that quilt just gorgeous? Of course, I am probably super-biased because Donna used a couple of the fabrics I had printed up on Spoonflower that I gave away 2 Craft Swaps ago.

And I have saved the best for last: a "Happy Craft Swap" story.

Our very good friend Chris (You may have heard me mention her shop several times here on the blog. she and her husband Bernie are keeping the Midcoast hip!) has had a bit of a rough year, but just recently got the most wonderful news that she is cancer-free.

We really wanted to celebrate so all of the gals in our "community" here at Alewives (coincidentally the same gals who lose all restraint at Chris' shop) got together, made a La La Log Cabin block from Anna Maria Horner's cotton voile, then Anne stitched them together into a quilt top and Barbara Commeau machine quilted the whole thing.



We surprised Chris with her "We love you/ celebration quilt" at the Swap last night and it was truly a happy moment for all. The cotton voile is so soft and the colors are so bright and happy that we felt they fit the bill perfectly. We wanted to give Chris something that would let her know how we all feel about her: that she is such a beautiful person inside and out and she deserves a memento from her biggest fans.





Congratulations, Chris: your little Midocast Maine community loves you to pieces and couldn't do without you!

And I think that about sums up the whole evening.

This is really just a sampling of what went on: there were lots of funny moments and lots of amazing crafts, too. Way too many for me to recount on this blog.

If you like what you see and you are local-ish, we will do our next Craft Swap in early summer and we would love to see you there: the more the merrier!

Thanks to the 27 ladies who came and I will see you all again soon!

XO,

Rhea

"Little Things to Sew" and "Modern Workshop" pre-cuts have arrived!

I tried my best to be patient for this book to arrive, but it was sooo, sooo very hard.

Little Things to Sew, the first book by Oliver+S creator Liesl Gibson finally arrived and has been the subject of much cooing here at the shop.

We were lucky enough to have Liesl come and visit us here at Alewives this past November, and she brought with her some of the samples from the book, so I have had an up-close and personal look at these projects and I am so pleased to say that the gorgeous photography in the book does do them justice. It's not often that you can say that. The book's photography was done by Laurie Frankel and let me tell you, she can come and photograph for me any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

My favorite project from Little Things to Sew is without a doubt the cozy winter hood: those little ears kill me! I am dying to make one of these for my little friend Olive, maybe with a matching set of mittens.























Little Things to Sew is a real bargain: especially when you consider that you are getting 20 full-sized patterns (no photo-copying for you!) and the book is hard-cover, absolutely gorgeous (have I mentioned the photography?) and includes 2 paper dolls in the back of the book for your children to play with. Or for you to play with... If you feel so inclined... *cough, cough*


Changing subjects and, as if on cue, we received our shipment of "Modern Workshop" pre-cuts today.







"Modern Workshop" is Liesl's newest line of fabrics for Moda, and although right now we only have pre-cut charm squares and jelly rolls available, the yardage from this collection should be arriving in April.

The charm squares especially seem to go fast, so if you would like a pack or two it may be advisable to pounce.

Wouldn't you love to make something from Liesl's new book? Or her new fabric? Or both?

Yes, please! I know I would! Can I go home and play now?

XO,

Rhea

Mystery Quilt Weekend Photos

We had such a good time this weekend at the Mystery Quilt class...

What is the Mystery Quilt class?

I designed a pattern, and the gals in my class had NO IDEA what they were making: they were just given a list of materials to purchase (i.e., 30 "light/background" fat quarters, 15 "dark" fat quarters, 15 "medium" fat quarters).

It turned out to be a really good lesson in color-intuition, because sometimes when you see a pattern, you can't get past the colors/fabrics used on the cover.

The pattern I designed turned out to be little houses... I think they are so cute!

I think these all came out great: what do you think?



































































































































































































































































































































Are they not the cutest things ever?

Which ones are your favorites?

I can't decide: I like them all and they all look so different and take on different personalities depending on the fabric choices.

I love how some of them look so traditional and old-fashionedy while some of them look like Caribbean beach huts, or gnome-houses, or British town-houses, or Greek Island adobe homes, or little Christmas elf houses, and all depending on the fabric and setting choices.

And those little chimneys kill me.

Great job and a huge thank you to the wonderful group of ladies who spent this past weekend with me. What a treat to see your colorful little creations...

Thanks for going on this quilting journey with me!

I will see you all again soon,

XO,

Rhea

Oy!

This picture has nothing to do with anything, except that this is a funny apron Ollie and I got at the wedding. Sometimes the phrase seems to hit the spot. Except in my case it was more like 7 years in college.


Aaannnyways...


At the risk of being shushed by everyone out there who is sick of the snow and ready for it to be spring, I was so glad to have a snow day today.

It was a much needed reprieve.

I took so long deciding what I wanted to make for the Craft Swap that when I finally committed I found myself in the scary position of perhaps having to present someone with an in-progress gift.

This would be a first for the Craft Swap, and although I have always wanted to be a trail-blazer, I don't want to be that kind of a trail-blazer.

So, the snow day was well-timed for me.

And besides the extra time with the Craft Swap, I had a nice, quiet day at the shop today.

But not too quiet.

I feel good and caught up now, and I am home safe and sound with a glass of Prosecco and a big bag of Little Lads and a dark chocolate Toblerone.

Thank you, snow day.

I will see you all again soon!

XO,

Rhea

Closing at Noon

Hello,

Due to the storm Alewives will be closing at noontime today: get your behinds in here and stock up so you can spend the weekend in sewing bliss.

The Craft Swap has been rescheduled to next Friday, March 4th and there will be no Sewing Lounge tonight.

Stay safe and hunker down with your loved ones!

XO,

Rhea

Craft Swap Rescheduled...

Hello One and All,

According to the "experts," we are in for some wild and wooly weather tomorrow. If you haven't had your eye on the weather reports, they say we are in for snow/rain in the morning, changing to rain in the afternoon, changing back to snow/rain in the evening, with strong wind gusts, slippery roads and power outages expected.

I don't know about you, but these do not sound like ideal traveling conditions to me. In fact, they sound quite the opposite!

I wish I had a crystal ball and could tell if the weather will manifest the way they are expecting it to, but I would rather be safe than sorry, and let people make their plans sooner rather than later. And I know some of you (myself and Jessica included!) could benefit from an extra week to work on your Craft Swap projects, so I am officially rescheduling the Craft Swap to Friday, March 4th (one week from tomorrow).

I would greatly appreciate it if you would please pass this info along to anyone you know who has signed up for the Craft Swap.

Other than the change of date, the details will remain the same: the Swap will start at 6:00 sharp and be held here at Alewives Fabrics. Please feel free to come a bit early and please feel free to bring some food and/or beverage with you.

And I have just one more favor to ask...

We have 32 lovely ladies signed up for the Craft Swap (a record number of attendees for us!) and we don't have quite enough chairs for everyone. If you have an extra folding chair or two that you would be willing to bring along, please do so!

Thanks very much and I hope to see you all next Friday, March 4th.

(Let's cross our fingers for better weather on our new date and while we're at it, let's cross our fingers that tomorrow's weather turns out to be not-so-bad, after all!)

XO,

Rhea